Sunday, March 29, 2009

Help minimize stress!! – Message from the Director of the Library

Only four weeks until the end of the semester, and in the Library we are already seeing the stress that comes with the pressure of project deadlines and study for major tests, including final exams.

We really need your cooperation and, more important, your respect for your fellow students during these next four stress-filled weeks. Unfortunately this past week we experienced a few too many instances of disregard for fellow students, and we need to correct this situation in the coming weeks.

With so much group and collaborative study, we can not be a completely quiet place, particularly in the public spaces, but unnecessary noise certainly can be avoided in all spaces.

When in the Library, please

  • use what we call a “library voice” (lower than your normal voice and certainly avoid the voice you must use to be heard next to traffic on King Street)
  • move close to your friends so you can converse at a lower volume, rather than speaking loudly to cover a long separation
  • keep conversations within group study sessions at an appropriate volume, so those in your group can hear you but others throughout the Library can not
  • avoid unnecessary noise or social conversations that may distract others who are studying
  • silence your cell phone and conduct any cell phone conversations well away from those studying
  • use headphones if you need to listen to audio on your computer, and keep volume low
  • remember particularly as you enter and exit the Library that others are studying, so please keep noise down (the marble floor unfortunately amplifies sound)
  • as you exit the elevator, remember to keep noise down because it opens into an area where others are studying (again the marble floor amplifies sound)
  • maintain complete quiet in our designated “quiet" Reference Room (Room L-133), and the two designated "quiet" study carrel spaces on the north side of the 2nd floor, as well the individual study carrels on the 1st and 2nd floors

Your fellow students will definitely appreciate the courtesy and respect you show them at this critical and stressful time. Many thanks.

Michael Gallen, Director of Library Services, Proctor Library